Corrunicorn: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Peter Corroon's new campaign strategy

Insider Poll: Peter Corroon's ads too negative? YES!!!

Governor Gary Herbert and Salt Lake County Mayor Corroon were in FOX 13's studio for a governor debate. Utahpolicy.com FOX 13 political insiders seem to say negative ads are in the eye of the beholder. About 79 percent of Republicans say the ads from Peter Corroon showing a sale sign in front of the Governor's Mansion are too negative. 78 percent of Democrats say they raise legitimate issues.

Corroon’s Negative Attacks Backfire

Any press is good press, right? Maybe not. This week, Utah Policy released poll results showing that Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Corroon’s well publicized attacks against Republican Governor Gary Herbert may be backfiring. In recent weeks Corroon has fixated on campaign finance reform, continually lashing out at Governor Herbert for accepting large campaign contributions from companies with state contracts and tax incentives. The poll shows that Corroon’s attacks may be causing the public to view him unfavorably.

Utah Policy reported that a poll was conducted of 600 registered Utah voters on favorable and unfavorable views of the candidates. About 39 to 40 percent of the people in the study gave Corroon a favorable view, but about a third of voters gave him an unfavorable view.

Discussion of the issues in a campaign is obviously imperative, but negative campaigning is never pretty and often backfires.

Corroon’s Negative Attacks Backfire

Any press is good press, right? Maybe not. This week, Utah Policy released poll results showing that Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Corroon’s well publicized attacks against Republican Governor Gary Herbert may be backfiring. In recent weeks Corroon has fixated on campaign finance reform, continually lashing out at Governor Herbert for accepting large campaign contributions from companies with state contracts and tax incentives. The poll shows that Corroon’s attacks may be causing the public to view him unfavorably.

Utah Policy reported that a poll was conducted of 600 registered Utah voters on favorable and unfavorable views of the candidates. About 39 to 40 percent of the people in the study gave Corroon a favorable view, but about a third of voters gave him an unfavorable view.

Discussion of the issues in a campaign is obviously imperative, but negative campaigning is never pretty and often backfires.

Corroon accused of breaking campaign finance law in suit

STORY FROM DAILY HERALD

The former chairman of the Salt Lake County Republican Party has filed suit against Democratic gubernatorial nominee Peter Corroon, accusing him of violating campaign finance laws that he signed as county mayor.
James Evans filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Utah's 3rd District Court. He wants Corroon to be ordered to return more than $300,000 in donations he accepted through his Corroon Leadership political action committee.
Salt Lake County prohibits individual contributions that exceed $2,000. Contractors that do work with the county are prohibited from donating more than $100 to county officials' campaigns.
Among others exceeding those limits, Corroon's PAC accepted $10,000 donations from the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, Utah AFL-CIO and AEB Enterprises.
Corroon campaign manager Donald Dunn claims the limits only apply to county races.
"There is absolutely no truth or merit in anything that James Evans has put in this lawsuit, and James Evans is notorious for having his trick-or-treat campaign surprises and being a negative dirty trickster," Dunn said. "It doesn't surprise us that we're seeing his head pop up right before Halloween."
Corroon has made campaign finance reform one of the signature issues in his race against GOP Gov. Gary Herbert. Corroon has proudly touted the county's campaign finance limits and said he would seek to put caps in place on a statewide level if he were elected governor.
Herbert has said he opposes campaign contribution limits.
Evans contends Corroon was effectively using his political action committee as a second mayoral campaign account in 2009, although Corroon had already said he wasn't seeking re-election as mayor.
Corroon didn't formally announce he was running for governor until earlier this year.
"That [PAC] was filed before he ran for governor in 2009," Evans said. "People gave significant amounts of money because he was county mayor, and he benefitted from it because he's county mayor."

Corrunicorn 4: Peter Corroon says his plan sucks, controversy sells

Peter Corroon's Style of Ethics

PETER CORROON'S STYLE OF ETHICS
Written by Utah Blogger Holly On the Hill

What is with these candidates who trumpet their support of ethics and then show their lack of? Last week, Salt Lake County mayor, Peter Corroon said he was going to run a positive campaign for governor. That lasted two days when he then released a 54-page document attacking Gary Herbert. Today, he allowed his press secretary to send around an email to all county employees ragging on the governor.

Jim Braden sent out an email entitled “Special Edition: Who’s In Charge” to all county employees. The politically motivated email links to every negative news article about Governor Gary Herbert – and of course nothing at all unfavorable to Corroon. Hello?!

Corroon is vocal in his support for ethics UEG style, yet he abuses his office as county mayor, says the governor’s mansion is for sale and that contributions of $50,000 should raise red flags, he himself is – wait for it – taking contributions of $50K from a company doing business with the county.

Kem Gardner’s company – Gateway Associates – developed & owns the Gateway as well as residential, commercial and retail in Salt Lake County. Salt Lake County owns property at the gateway including Clark Planetarium. The county pays Gateway Associates, Kern Gardner pays Corroon’s campaign. Nice.

Fox 13: Kearns residents surprised, angered over police fees

KEARNS - A new bill for the increase in police fees is expected to arrive for property owners in unincorporated areas. A crowd of angry residents had the opportunity to ask council members and sheriff questions in the last of three open houses Thursday night. Despite extensive news coverage and packed public comment hearings, many were caught off guard by a flyer in the mail announcing the additional fee.

"I'm fine with paying taxes for it but i'm not fine paying an additional fee and an additional tax that is disproportionate to some citizens of Salt Lake County, relative to others," Gregory Von Ax said.

Salt Lake County lost 30 percent in sales revenue in the recession and a $13 million dollar hole was left even after all the budget cuts. "We've crunched that budget down to the bare bones and now we're at a place where we have to provide law enforcement to our community and we have to pay for it," Jim Bradley from the Salt Lake County Council said.

The police fee bills will arrive March 1. The cities within the county will not get the bill because residents pay the fee with a tax on utilities. The legislature is considering a bill that will allow the county to do the same thing.

Taxpayers threaten lawsuit against Salt Lake County for police fee

The Utah Taxpayers Association is threatening to sue to stop Salt Lake County from collecting a police fee that thousands of homes and businesses in the unincorporated area paid this month for the first time.
“If the only way to get this problem solved turns out to be litigation,” association spokesman Royce Van Tassell said Tuesday, “so be it.”
Talk of a lawsuit emerged this week in a monthly newsletter, in which the business-backed group challenged the county’s new fee as illegal and unfair.
“It appears to me that the taxpayers association is looking for an issue to justify its existence,” said County Councilman Jim Bradley, a member of the county law-enforcement district board that levied the fee. “It they are so disposed [to sue], let them do it.”
With the recession taking a toll on tax revenues, the county decided late last year to charge homes, businesses and even churches and charitable institutions varying fees for law enforcement.
Homeowners would pay an extra $174 a year, while businesses would pay more — depending on the demand their type of operation places on police services.
But the taxpayers association says the county never mentioned the possibility of new fees when it formed the law-enforcement district last year. Neither, the group says, did a resolution that bestowed taxing authority on the district.
The association also alleges the county imposed the fee unfairly, sometimes sending multiple bills to a single property because it served as the registered address for several businesses. (In one case, the county charged businesses that weren’t located in the unincorporated area.)
Bradley countered that the police fee isn’t unprecedented or illegal. Other special districts already impose fees for water, sewer and garbage collection.
As for fairness?
“There are certain individual circumstances that the police district is willing to look at to make sure that everybody is being treated fairly,” said County Mayor Peter Corroon, also a member of the law-enforcement district board. But, overall, the police fee is a “very fair system.”
The taxpayers association still may skip suing. But, if it does, the group vows to push for legislative changes to “eliminate this fee.”